Urgh . . . .

You know, I really have this big problem with not being able to disagree with people to their face in a polite manner. And by that I mean that I'm so terrified of coming across as rude that I end up not saying anything at all, and/or pretending that I do agree with them, because I for some reason feel like some unspecified bad thing will happen if there's not total agreement.

In this instance, I've met some nice people who happen to have a lot of opinions I don't agree with. And that's fine; it's not my job to tell them what to think. But at the same time, I don't want to give the illusion of being in agreement with things that in actuality go against my beliefs --- and yet I realize now that that's exactly what I've been doing. I have no idea how to get across the idea of, "I like you and I realize this matters to you and I'm not trying to put you down or anything, but personally I think you're wrong." I have this bad habit of ending up being two-faced because I'm trying to be diplomatic but am not very good at it.

It's especially hard when often what I object to is not the opinions in and of themselves, but rather the tone or phrasing or etc. that they were uttered in.